Criticism halts Ranger uranium mine

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The controversial Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu National Park has been forced to close five months after a radiation leak that affected 28 workers.

Operator Energy Resources Australia Ltd announced it would suspend mining and processing at the site today "for a period of some days" after a federal agency delivered a report highly critical of its operations in recent years.

The report, by the Darwin-based Office of Supervising Scientist, the agency monitoring uranium mining in Kakadu, found evidence that ERA had provided insufficient resources for radiation protection and the way it decontaminated people and equipment was "inadequate".

The report said it appeared that "complacency" had characterised the ERA approach to radiation protection in recent years, accusing it of failing to employ enough qualified workers.

Delivered to the Senate yesterday, it detailed a previously unreported incident in which the transportation of contaminated material resulted in radiation exposure to a man and his children.

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It revealed there had been at least three separate incidents, in November last year and January and March this year, where contaminated vehicles had left the mine without having been properly cleaned or without radiation clearance certificates.

ERA, owned by the British giant Rio Tinto, claimed it had improved safety after an incident in March in which workers drank and showered in water containing 400 times the legal limit of uranium.